Kindred Spirits
by quillsparks
Summary: All was said and done. The world was saved. The monsters were free. But there was still one act of mercy left towards one who had suffered so much... (Please note - this story covers the true ending of Undertale, and contains some pretty huge spoilers if you have not already beaten it or do not know about it! Also, writing for gender neutral characters is really awkward...)


"Frisk... don't you have anything better to do?"

If Frisk did, they certainly couldn't think of anything better right now. Frisk had just gone through so much, but now Frisk realized that there were others who had gone through so much more, for so much longer. Frisk's heart ached while Asriel shared his tale, his thoughts, his truest feelings with Frisk. But now Asriel had nothing more to say, and it seemed to Frisk like he was trying to shoo them off. Frisk stared into Asriel's eyes. Asriel tried so hard to smile and to seem happy for Frisk's sake, but Frisk knew better. Frisk could see the forced happiness underlined by despair. There was a certain sadness, a quiet resignation to his fate. Asriel's eyes, his expression... he really did take after his parents so much. The same friendliness and joy for life that his father had. The same tenderness and love that his mother had...

-

Asriel, with nothing further to say, turned back to stare at the patch of golden flowers in silence. Having the SOULs of every monster and several humans inside him left a lingering bit of their power that bound his mind, spirit, and his body together as himself again. But without his own SOUL, that power was weak and fading fast. Asriel wanted nothing more than to see his mother and father one last time, to hear their voices, to feel their embrace. But he knew he couldn't, not now. He already told Frisk that. He had already died once, and now he was on borrowed time. Asriel was sure of one thing, though - going back to them just to be separated from them forever once more? That heartache outweighed any happiness anyone would get out of the reunion.

He wasn't sure how much longer he had left as himself, and the last thing he wanted was to turn back into a flower. No, that wasn't exactly true. Asriel had come to terms with his fate already. He understood it was inevitable. That was why he had journeyed back here, back to where everything began so very long ago. He would turn back into a flower, that much was certain. But turning back into a flower was actually the second-to-last thing Asriel wanted. The last thing he wanted was for anybody to have to watch it happen. He didn't want anybody to have to watch him die all over again.

-

"His mother," thought Frisk. Frisk saw Toriel's face in their mind for a moment. Frisk thought back to how desperate she was to protect Frisk, how scared she was for them, but now Frisk understood. Having met Asriel, Frisk wanted nothing more than to allow Toriel, Asgore, and Asriel the happy life together they all deserved. Frisk felt something welling up inside their SOUL... was it sadness over the cruelty of what had transpired? No, it was something else, Frisk thought.

"His mother," Frisk thought again. It was only thanks to Toriel that Frisk had made it this far. When Frisk fell into the monsters' world, Frisk could feel the influence of... them. It was only now that Frisk understood just who and what was influencing them. If nobody had been around, Frisk wondered, would they have given into the control? But instead, Frisk had Toriel on his side from the start. From the moment she found Frisk, Toriel welcomed Frisk with open arms and an open heart. She wanted nothing but the best for Frisk. Comfort, safety, happiness. Frisk could never replace her true child, but she could share her love with them just as if they were. And when she understood that Frisk would never be happy trapped in the ruins forever? She willingly lost another child to allow them to be happy. The feeling in Frisk's SOUL grew stronger... was it anger over the unfairness of fate? No, that wasn't it, either...

-

Asriel glanced over at Frisk out of the corner of his eye. Frisk was standing just as still and as silently as Asriel himself was, still staring at him. Asriel was beginning to get desperate. Why was Frisk not leaving? Even now, he could feel twinges in the tips of his fingers and toes as the magic that his body was composed of threatened to dissipate. Asriel grew worried instead. Could it be that Frisk wanted to watch him turn back into a flower? Could Frisk be that cruel? He suddenly had a thought about the one who had set everything in motion so long ago, the one who was truly to blame for everything. He could feel tears threatening to well up in his eyes again. Maybe Frisk wasn't so different from his so-called best friend after all...

"No," Asriel thought sharply to himself, so much so that it almost startled him. Asriel blinked hard to force back the tears, and scolded himself for being stupid. Hadn't he just admitted to Frisk that his so-called best friend wasn't really such a good person after all? It seemed obvious now, but how could he have ever projected them onto Frisk before? (Well, besides the shirt, maybe...) And now the same thought came up? No, Frisk was their own person. Frisk was the friend and the sibling that Asriel wished he had from the beginning. A small smile crept across Asriel's face, despite his best efforts to keep his face blank. How much better would things have turned out? What kind of life would they have had together?

But the smile faded from Asriel's face just as quickly as it had appeared. He would never get the chance to spend more time with Frisk, he realized. He would never get to know them, to talk about Asriel's life and Frisk's life. Tears came to his eyes. One rolled down his cheek, splashing against the petal of one of the golden flowers below. He would never get to have adventures together with Frisk as a real friend, he would never get to really meet the friends Frisk had made. Asriel wished he could hate his real adopted sibling for everything they did. Because of them, he would never know what it was like to have a sibling - no, a friend - who cared about you. And soon, he would never know anything else.

-

Frisk thought about everything that had happened. Frisk had come so far believing in the goodness of others and trusting that things would work out for the best - all the great friends Frisk made during the journey proved that Frisk wasn't wrong about that. Even now, all Frisk wanted was for everybody to be happy. Asgore. Asriel. And especially Toriel, who was not just Asriel's mother, but - as far as Frisk was concerned - Frisk's mother, too. Frisk loved Toriel like their own mother. That meant Asriel was like a brother to Frisk. Perhaps the two were kindred spirits - it felt like Frisk had known Asriel forever, even though it was only a short time. And now Frisk had to accept that the short time was nearing its end. But Frisk knew that was wrong. Asriel may have resigned himself to fate... but since when did Frisk start believing in fate? When did fate start telling Frisk what had to happen? Certainly not now! No, Frisk knew what had to be done. Everything had become crystal clear to Frisk. The feeling in Frisk's SOUL peaked. It wasn't sadness. It wasn't anger. Now he knew exactly what it was.

It was DETERMINATION.

But there was something else there this time, too...

-

Frisk moved to stand next to Asriel once again. The sudden movement startled Asriel, and he looked up at Frisk, wiping the tears in his eyes away.

"Frisk? Don't you have anything better to do?" Asriel repeated. Wordlessly, Frisk just stared at him, a small smile on their face. "What's going on? What are you doing?" he asked meekly. Frisk grabbed Asriel, pulling him into a tight embrace. Asriel froze for a moment, overcome by emotion... and wept. "So much for not being a crybaby," Asriel sniffled. He buried his face into Frisk's shoulder, not even bothering to try to hold the tears back. Frisk held Asriel tightly in the embrace, gently rubbing his back as if to say "let it all out."

Asriel could hardly catch his breath. He had never cried this hard before in his life. His eyes were shut so tightly that he thought the tinge of red had to be his imagination. Asriel forced his eyes open, despite the stinging tears, to find it was not his imagination at all. Frisk's chest was glowing with a bright, red light.  
"What... what are you..." Asriel barely choked out. Frisk just smiled.  
"I don't want to see it end this way," Frisk said quietly. Asriel stared at Frisk, tears still streaming down his face. "I won't let it end this way," they said.  
"Frisk, no, it's impossible!" Asriel sobbed, trying to pull away. Frisk continued to hold him in a tight embrace. "My SOUL is gone, Frisk. I don't have much longer. You saw what happened when monsters tried to go against the SOUL's nature," he said, his voice shaking with fear.  
"Yes, I saw," Frisk said, calmly.  
"Then you saw that you can't just throw DETERMINATION at a problem to make it go away, Frisk!" Asriel shouted, resuming his struggle to free himself from Frisk's hug. Asriel looked at Frisk's face. Asriel could only imagine what a mess he was - eyes red from crying, the fur on his face matted from tears - but Frisk still smiled gently and warmly at him.  
"I know."  
"If you know, then... why?" Asriel asked, defeated. "Why do you fight fate?"

Asriel might have meant it as a rhetorical question, but Frisk had an answer. Frisk knew exactly why. Frisk whispered something into Asriel's ear. This time, Asriel succeeded in pushing Frisk away in surprise, staring at them. His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide with shock. Did he hear Frisk correctly? Frisk, however, gave Asriel the same warm smile he had been wearing the whole time.  
"W-what did you just say?" Asriel whispered.  
"Love," Frisk repeated, proudly. "During my journey, someone wise told me that I may not have gained any LOVE, but I gained love. It didn't make a whole lot of sense to me at the time. But I understand it perfectly now. I love Toriel. And Asgore. And all of my friends I met along the way. And I love you too, Asriel. That's why I want to share that love." Asriel fell to his knees.  
"Frisk..." he protested, but his brain refused to put together words beyond that. He instead buried his face in his hands, and began wailing once more. "I don't deserve this, Frisk!"  
"You deserve it more than anyone," Frisk said, kneeling down next to Asriel and putting a hand on his shoulder. "I already told you that I forgave you. I'm sure everybody else does, too. And I am going to help you do the hardest thing of all - forgive yourself."

Asriel felt something strange happening, and looked down to see a hole opening up in his chest. Frisk was too late, Asriel realized with horror. It was happening! This was it! He was turning back into...  
"Run, Frisk! You have to get out of here!" Asriel cried desperately. But Frisk did not move, and a hole opened up in their own chest, their SOUL manifesting in front of them as a brightly glowing small red heart. Asriel stared at it, and watched as what looked like dust flowed from the hole in his own chest, surrounding Frisk's SOUL. Frisk's SOUL was quickly covered in a layer of the dust from Asriel's body, and just as suddenly as it had manifested, it disappeared. The holes in Frisk's and Asriel's chests closed, and Frisk collapsed. "Frisk? Frisk!" Asriel shouted, shaking them. "No... this can't be happening," Asriel whispered. His vision was still blurry from tears. Was Frisk even breathing? "What have you done? Wake up, Frisk!" Asriel pleaded. He looked around, but saw only the darkness surrounding them. "Please, somebody! Anybody! Help!" Asriel shouted, desperately.

But nobody came.

Asriel collapsed next to Frisk, hugging their body.  
"Frisk! Frisk, you big dummy! What did you do? Why would you sacrifice yourself for me?" Asriel shouted, trying to catch his breath between sobs. "Say something, Frisk, anything! Just wake up, come back to me, please!" After several minutes of silence broken only by Asriel's panicked crying, Frisk finally stirred, and opened their eyes slowly.  
"Howdy," Frisk said weakly, smiling. Asriel gasped, and helped Frisk to sit up.  
"You're alive!" Asriel shouted, almost knocking Frisk back over as he hugged him tightly. "Are you all right?"  
"Never mind me, how do you feel?" Frisk asked. Asriel realized that he hadn't even given thought to what just occurred. He remembered the hole in his chest clearly, and his hand shot up to his chest. But he felt nothing out of the ordinary. He did, however, realize the tingling in his fingers and toes had completely gone away. "What did you do? What just happened?" Asriel asked.  
"I didn't sacrifice my SOUL," Frisk explained. "And you were right, just using DETERMINATION alone wouldn't have saved you." Frisk looked away from Asriel, suddenly a bit embarrassed. "I don't know, Asriel. Maybe this sounds silly, but it felt like I knew exactly what I had to do. I linked your spirit to my SOUL with DETERMINATION... and love." Asriel stared at Frisk, amazed.  
"I don't believe it. Can you even do that? How did you know that would work?" Asriel asked in astonishment.  
"I... well, I didn't," Frisk admitted quietly. "I just felt like it was the right thing to do." Asriel stared blankly at Frisk for a few moments while this registered in his brain.  
"You guessed," Asriel finally said, flatly. Frisk nodded, and started laughing. "I... I... I absolutely cannot believe you did that, Frisk!" Asriel shouted over Frisk's laughter. "That was irresponsible! And dangerous! And... and..."

But it worked. Nothing Asriel had to say mattered - it worked. He was alive! He was himself! And, thanks to Frisk, he would continue to be so. Frisk finally stopped laughing, and grinned at Asriel.  
"Thank you," Asriel whispered, smiling. "But will you be all right? If this means I'm going to end up absorbing your SOUL..."  
"I don't think anything like that will happen," Frisk said. "Nobody is absorbing anybody else's SOUL today. I feel fine, but I suspect I won't be able to use quite that much DETERMINATION ever again." Frisk got to their feet, and offered a hand to Asriel. Asriel took it, and Frisk helped him to his feet as well. Frisk looked into Asriel's eyes again. Frisk was very happy to see the resignation from before was gone. This time, Frisk saw only true happiness. The despair was gone, and it was replaced with hope.

"Promise me something, Asriel," Frisk said, suddenly serious. The smile faded from Asriel's face slightly.  
"Of course, Frisk, anything."  
"Remember this moment, okay? Remember how you feel today, right now. Never question or doubt yourself, okay?" Asriel looked a bit confused by this.  
"I don't think I understand, Frisk."  
"You said that we can't regret hard decisions forever, right? So don't regret anything. You're you now. Flowey is no more. You are Asriel Dreemurr, son of Toriel and Asgore, now and forever." Asriel's eyes started to water once again, but he quickly rubbed them dry with his sleeve, sniffling softly. "And don't forget the most important things you are, too." Asriel looked up at Frisk.  
"What's that?" he asked softly. Frisk gave Asriel one final hug.  
"My brother... and my friend."  
"Frisk... thank you," Asriel said. "I love you." There was no uncertainty or doubt this time. And there were no tears.

After a few moments in silence, they broke their embrace. Asriel grabbed Frisk's hand, and started to run off, practically dragging Frisk behind him.  
"Whoa, hey! Where are we going in such a hurry?" Frisk asked, surprised. Asriel looked back and grinned happily.  
"We're going home!"


End file.
